


Rainbow Paradise

by jadenmd (taboonalady)



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arashi as hosts, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Ninomiya Kazunari-centric, OT5, alternate universe - host club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-31
Updated: 2010-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:26:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23066197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taboonalady/pseuds/jadenmd
Summary: Nino experiences working in a host club for the first time and finds himself getting friends and being in a stupid competition.(Inspired by Nino placing #1 in the "Who Would be the Best Host in Arashi" ranking during Himitsu no Arashi-chan's Ranking Derby segment.)
Relationships: Aiba Masaki & Matsumoto Jun & Ninomiya Kazunari & Ohno Satoshi & Sakurai Sho, Aiba Masaki/Matsumoto Jun/Ninomiya Kazunari/Ohno Satoshi/Sakurai Sho, Ninomiya Kazunari/Ohno Satoshi
Kudos: 3





	Rainbow Paradise

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the lovely [Betty](https://hakka-candy.livejournal.com/). <3 Most of the competition details were from her and most of the scenarios before that were mine. Crossposted from LJ, edited for better language usage.

_Rainbow Paradise_. The sign of what looks like an ordinary host club in Shibuya reads.  
  
Nino stares. He cannot believe he quit his day job at the convenience store to get another in a club. In a _host_ club at that. He stares some more, this time to make sure that this is _indeed_ a host club. The establishment in front of him appears to be more of a karaoke bar (if not a daycare center, because of the bright colors splattered all over the signage), and Nino wonders how it became one of the most popular hotspots in Tokyo.  
  
Then, he shudders at the thought of his mother berating him the night before.  
  
“You don’t have the right to complain that you don’t get enough money, because you _chose_ to work there in the first place. If you’re so smart, why are you still working with that kind of pay? Maybe, it _is_ better for you to work at a host club if you want to have a better salary – at least that sharp tongue of yours will finally have some use.”  
  
Nino rolls his eyes, the same reaction he expressed when his mother finished her sermon, as he thinks about it. Actually, it’s not that Nino does not like the idea of working at a host club – he _doesn’t care_ at the least – nor does he not believe that he can work here; in fact, he _knows_ that soon enough, he will be considered as one of the best hosts in this club. Nino may not have a lot of friends, but he has sure mastered the art of charming the ladies. And he should have: dealing with a rather eccentric sister (always insisting that throwing stuff into a room that’s not hers is _common_ ) is something Nino has had to live with everyday. If he cannot deal with absolutely normal, or less weird, girls, and he can with his sister, then probably he was just born in this world with very bad luck.  
  
And so, he finds himself standing before the entrance of Rainbow Paradise, with only two things in mind: to earn more money and to make his mother happy (hey, that’s hitting two birds with one stone, right?). Nino sighs as he enters the building at last.  
  
\---  
  
“Good morning and welcome to Rainbow Paradise~” a man with the same height as Nino greets him with a sleepy singsong voice. “How may I help you?”  
  
Nino merely blinks. There’s something about this guy that Nino finds so unique. He then ignores the hint of curiosity for a while as he answers, “I’m looking for an opening, for a host… if you have any…?”  
  
Nino hates that he sounds so unsure. What is he so afraid of? For one, this guy – probably just another host – does not look threatening and unnerving so much as calm and gentle. As a matter of fact, Nino has a feeling he will like this person.  
  
“Ah yes!” the man’s eyes light up. “Come in, come in.” He leads Nino into hallways and hallways full of framed pictures of the hosts – Nino quickly observes that all of them are fairly good-looking and equally charming – accompanied with little descriptions at the bottom. It just feels a little freaky to Nino that there are too many colors in those hallways: blue, yellow, purple, red and green. Why can’t these just be like normal corridors, painted with dull shades of gray, white and black? Nino inwardly quivers; he never thought such combination of colors were possible to exist.  
  
After a minute or so, the two of them finally enter the office. If the hallways are already weird, the office further inside is a little bit weirder: fishing mementos all over the place. Pictures of this small man catching fish, a fish brooch on his coat hanging by the door (that can easily be mistaken as a heart), fishing magazines on the table; those do not even have _anything_ to do with being a host at all. Before Nino can think of the possible reasons why this person loves fishing so much, the man gestures for Nino to sit beside the desk. By this time, Nino has already figured out that this man is not _only_ a host, but also the owner of the club itself. And with the feeling Nino is getting (he cannot take his eyes off the man), this place should not be so bad after all.  
  
“So first, what is your name?” the man asks, smiling a bit. But before Nino can answer, he continues, “I’m Ohno Satoshi, by the way. And I own Rainbow Paradise.”  
  
_Oh-chan_. Nino then clears his throat, “Ninomiya Kazunari.”  
  
“ _Kazu_ , then?” Ohno assumes, accompanying it with a yawn afterwards. Nino does not mind as he understands that he came here at a rather early time, considering that host clubs regularly run in the evening. And, for the most part, Nino does not mind because that yawn looks so adorable.  
  
Nino grunts as a response. “Kazu is okay, but most people call me Nino anyway. And I know what you’re going to say; it probably doesn’t matter what my nickname really is. That’s how host clubs work, right? We use our given names so customers can feel a sense of closeness and familiarity.”  
  
“Well, we can always use quirky nicknames out of surnames,” Ohno shrugs. “If more customers can identify you that way, why not?”  
  
Nino is impressed. Ohno may not look like an owner, but he does sure know how a host club goes. Nino is more convinced to work at this host club. (He can never ask for a more awesome, not to mention _adorable_ , boss.) As a result of his own realization, Nino smirks for the first time since he woke up this morning. His confidence is back. And he does _unthinkable_ things when he’s unusually confident.  
  
“I like you,” Nino says before he can stop himself. The scary thing is he actually _means_ it, but in turn he hopes Ohno will take it only as a joke. Although that’s not such a good idea either; Nino tells the truth in most of his jokes anyway.  
  
“R-Really?” Ohno stutters, his eyes wandering and his cheeks reddening. He immediately stands up and turns his back on Nino to look at the file drawers. “Anyway, you need to fill up the application form, or s-something, and then we do the formal interview.”  
  
“Are you sure there’s a need for a formal interview?” Nino half-whines, half-teases. Ohno does not answer, so Nino stands up too, approaching a very oblivious Ohno. Oblivious until he can already feel Nino creeping behind his back. Ohno then shivers.  
  
“Are you sure there’s a need for it?” Nino repeats, whispering in Ohno’s ear, his breath touching his neck, making the hair in the nape area stand up. Nino usually does not resort to physical contact in persuading (or _seducing_ ) people – just the intensity of his soul-piercing stares is sometimes enough – but something tells him that Ohno will not mind. With that, he slides a hand past Ohno’s butt.  
  
“Eh, w-what are you doing?” Ohno mutters almost inaudibly.  
  
“Come on, just hire me,” Nino whispers again. “You know, I can please any kind of woman out there. I can certainly cheer them up just as much as your other hosts can.”  
  
Nino does the touching again.  
  
“Oh-” Ohno gasps a little and makes Nino scoff, his body swiftly becoming rigid. “O-Okay. Y-You can start tonight, if you’d like.”  
  
Then, as Ohno turns around, Nino gives him a smile of triumph.  
  
\---  
  
Ohno, for some reason, takes out Nino to lunch after the ‘interview’ at a ramen place nearby. Nino can only be amused with the idea that Ohno likes him too, for lack of a better explanation, but the way Ohno told him the reason for accepting him right away makes it more amusing for Nino.  
  
“Because you’re exceptionally pretty,” Ohno says, trying to make it as seriously convincing as possible. “It’s important to have you as a host in my club. The women there will absolutely love you.”  
  
Ohno could have just said _you’re pretty and I’m weak for pretty things_ instead and it would have made much more sense to Nino.  
  
Consequently, Nino learns from Ohno that there are only three other hosts in Rainbow Paradise, mainly because the club is supposed to be for people who are on the higher end of the money-rich scale. Therefore the club promises exclusivity, and so Ohno hires only the exceptional hosts for his club. That is also the reason why host rankings are not important to Rainbow Paradise, unlike in most host clubs.  
  
But of course, the deeper truth of it, Ohno eventually admits to Nino, is that the real reason the club is so exclusive is due to Ohno’s former boss, the old boss of the club called Johnny, who ordered him to cut down the number of the hosts to the best three, because Ohno can only manage such a little number of people. Ohno has also preferred it that way, anyway (It’s good that the ones who stayed are friends of Ohno, too).  
  
“Wait, so how many did you fire?” Nino inquires further, obviously interested.  
  
“Um, about five? There used to be around twenty hosts in the club, including myself, but Johnny-san took some of them and put in another club, leaving Rainbow Paradise with eight. Then I had to fire them because the club really wasn’t earning enough – non-profiteering hosts meant more liabilities to me. It kind of sucks, though.”  
  
“It does,” Nino nods, and then something comes up in his mind that sparks his curiosity again. “So, what can you tell me about my colleagues?”  
  
Ohno looks at Nino, a bit confused. “You’re going to meet them all later anyway; why ask that?”  
  
“Because I _can_ ,” Nino answers smugly, although he knows his answer does not really make sense. “And it’s like preparing! I want to know how my working environment will be like.”  
  
“Okay,” Ohno is quick to agree, and Nino likes that. Ohno brings out a wallet of some sort – actually a small photo album – and opens it for Nino. “This is Sakurai Sho. Guests call him ‘Sho-kun’. The most sensible person you’ll ever meet, his best skill in being a host is talking to guests about everything under the sun. And I mean _everything_. He’s quite dependable too; he takes care most of the financial and managerial responsibilities at the club.”  
  
“Smart and responsible; I bet girls love him because of his tendency to represent the perfect ideal man. Next,” Nino suggests as Ohno obliges, flipping onto the next picture.  
  
“Aiba Masaki. Guests call him ‘Aiba-chan’ because of his child-like behavior; his using a nickname is the reason why it’s okay to use yours, too. Anyway, he used to work as a zookeeper, and when he came to the club, he believed he could use his knowledge in animals to entertain the customers.”  
  
“He could’ve just done a variety show,” Nino comments as Ohno chuckles.  
  
“Well, I think being a host suits him,” Ohno counters, “He brings out the energy in the club, and people love that. The club would not be so successful without him.”  
  
Nino snickers; he’s beginning to think that this is not _definitely_ like all the other clubs out there. If he’s going to be honest, that in itself freaks him out a little bit, but if someone as lethargic as Ohno can handle it – and from what Nino has heard about Sho, Ohno does not really like doing the big stuff when it comes to managing the club – Nino can most probably handle it just as well.  
  
“And this,” Ohno flips it again onto the next photo, “is Matsumoto Jun, the youngest host in the club. Remember what I told you about Rainbow Paradise not ranking hosts? It’s not really true.”  
  
Nino only shrugs. “Not surprising, but go on.”  
  
“We have a number one host. But that’s all really, as far as the ranking goes.”  
  
Nino, of course, interrupts because he already knows what that means. “Hmm. No wonder girls love him. He’s pretty. Most Japanese girls love beautiful guys.”  
  
“That’s not only it,” Ohno smiles as he closes the photobook and inserts it back in his pocket. “MatsuJun is quite the charmer – he knows _exactly_ how to sweep women off their feet, an area where the other two are still trying to improve on.”  
  
“I see,” Nino says finally, pouting and eyes squinting as he has his arms crossed over his chest. Then, an idea comes up. “Oh-chan, can I just observe them tonight?”  
  
Ohno becomes more surprised of Nino’s instant familiarity rather than his sudden request. “What?”  
  
But Ohno should know it by now – when Nino smirks, it means he’s thinking of something cunning.  
  
\---  
  
It is now two hours before the nightly opening of Rainbow Paradise. Regarding the other three hosts, Nino has taken note of everything Ohno told him at the ramen place: every personality as a host, every quirk as a human being. But seeing them face-to-face, Nino comes to realize, is an entirely different experience.  
  
“ _Nino-chan_? Can I call you Nino-chan?”  
  
“You can’t do that, _idiot_. You just met him!”  
  
“Now, now, there’s no need to resort to name calling. According to Satoshi-kun, ‘Nino’ should be okay with you, right?”  
  
Nino bobs his head a little awkwardly, still taken aback on how these three interact amongst themselves. “Yeah, Nino would be good.”  
  
“Great!” the man he recognizes as Sho puts an arm around Nino’s small frame. “So with that… Nino, we welcome you to Rainbow Paradise!”  
  
“Yaaay!” Aiba raises his arms, prolonging the sound more than necessary. It’s going to be a bit annoying for Nino, and sadly, he’ll have to learn how to get used to it.  
  
“Welcome and good luck, _newcomer_ ,” Jun gives Nino’s frail shoulder a huge, forceful whack, making Nino blurt out an “ow” before Jun exited the locker room. Somehow, for Nino, Jun appears to be _really scary_. How did he become the number 1 host again?  
  
“Ah, I know! _Nino-comer_!” Aiba exclaims, as if a very good idea just came to him.  
  
“T-That’s not really… I-It’s not a good nickname, Aiba-kun,” Sho shakes his head and chuckles nervously. Ohno was right about him at least; Sho _is_ the most sensible of the group. “Just stick with ‘Nino’.”  
  
“But ‘MatsuJun’ was a really good one, right?” Aiba’s voice goes higher, and Nino can now tell that Ohno was right about him too; he is energetic and very child-like. Despite Nino’s initial irritation (hopefully it was just an overreaction), he cannot help but think that maybe, Aiba will be the easiest to be friends with after all.  
  
Sho chuckles again, this time full of affection, and adds, “Yeah. By the way, Nino, what was your job before this?”  
  
Nino has not really spoken much yet, but it’s because he has been trying to observe them without his own involvement – kind of like having a control group first. Now he has already seen enough; he figures it’s now okay to talk like normal.  
  
“I worked at a convenience store,” replies Nino, smiling as friendly as he can. Although they have been acting a little bit weird, ultimately, they seem to be nice guys. Harmless, at the least. “I liked working there, actually, but I was not earning enough.”  
  
“I see,” Sho processes Nino’s explanation, nodding as he does so. “So money is the reason you joined us?”  
  
“Yeah… wasn’t yours?” Nino’s forehead creases as surprise can be heard in his voice. They have reasons _other_ than his for joining the host club? Ridiculous.  
  
Sho smiles, but Aiba answers for him, “We all like what we do here. It doesn’t matter whether we need the money or not – although that certainly helps. Take Sho-chan’s case for instance; why does he still need more money when his entire family’s well-off?”  
  
These people are crazier than Nino thought. He is aware that he’s already looking dubiously at the older man. “Sho-san is rich?”  
  
“We’re not rich really,” Sho confirms a little humbly. “But yeah, being a host is definitely not something I do for money. I mean, I do events sometimes! Like being an MC or organizing them, things like that.”  
  
“That’s right. Sho-chan is amazing,” Aiba backs him up, accidentally glancing outside and seeing Ohno giving them a signal. “Oh look Sho-chan, Owner is calling us!”  
  
“We better go ahead,” Sho gives Nino one more warm smile as his left hand lands on Aiba’s shoulder. “I’m sure Satoshi-kun will still give you a briefing of some sort. It is your first day after all. Although I’m a bit surprised he still wanted to hire one more host…”  
  
“Well, for one he’s not doing the managing of the club per se,” Aiba explains, making Sho concur. “And look at Nino-chan! I’m _surprised_ we didn’t find him sooner.”  
  
“Hmm, that makes sense,” Sho finally concurs completely. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Nino. I hope you don’t find it uncomfortable here.”  
  
Nino shakes his head, even though he’s not entirely sure that will be the case. “No problem, I’ll be fine here. Nice to meet you too.”  
  
The two exit the locker room, leaving Nino wondering what he has gotten himself into.  
  
\---  
  
Nino has been observing from the window of the VIP Room with Ohno.  
  
Working at a host club, even though Nino has seen how this works on TV many, many times, is too surreal on his part. The fact that he just _can’t_ understand why Rainbow Paradise is such a glamorous club, when in truth, having three hosts who are completely different individually does not make it a high-end host club at all. Worse is that observing these three work in his first night is almost like a nightmare: Sho and Aiba have their own strange methods on how to entertain lady guests (and it always ends up that the older women choose to _pet_ Aiba), and Jun is basically keeping way too many guests at once. Nino believes he can certainly do better than all of them – yes, even better than Mr. Number One Host can.  
  
“Nino,” Ohno breaks Nino’s train of thought, “What do you think? Do you like Rainbow Paradise?”  
  
“They all suck at being hosts,” Nino says without fear. Ohno immediately snorts, and this surprises Nino. The fact that Ohno might be possibly aware of it surprises Nino. Why isn’t he doing anything about it? Is he a lousy owner too?  
  
“I knew you were going to say that. But look, I may not have the best hosts, Nino, but Rainbow Paradise works within that flaw. See?”  
  
Nino looks at where Ohno is pointing. His eyes immediately widen at the scenery before him; how could he not have seen this before?  
  
Aiba and Sho are now sharing a table, still with their respective guests, and Nino can somehow make out that they are telling embarrassing stories about Jun who is trying to keep himself from lunging forward at them and laughing at the same time. The most surprising about this is that all of the guests are enjoying the exchange between the three, and more people are coming in as it goes on.  
  
“Amazing…” Nino utters without much thought, obviously marveled at the scene.  
  
“And the other reason I didn’t hesitate to hire you is because I know you will do well as a host, especially if you’re with them.”  
  
It still feels weird, but for another cause: everything here feels like fate to Nino.  
  
\---  
  
A week passes, and Nino discovers that Ohno holds a weekly meeting (a regular thing Sho proposed when Rainbow Paradise had changed ownership) for anything that concerns the hosts and even the owner himself. Nino also discovers that anything, literally, means _anything_.  
  
“Wow, the number of our customers really went up this week huh,” Sho states, checking the records in front of him. Sho then looks up at Ohno, who is currently standing up. “How did they even know you had a new host?”  
  
Jun is busy reading a magazine beside Nino, who is trying to concentrate on the meeting the best way he can – while playing his DS. (Actually, it took them three days to get used to Nino’s habit; they stopped nagging him about it when he outperformed Jun that very same day.) Aiba, meanwhile, is pretending to check the documents that overflowed from Sho’s side of the table.  
  
Ohno has his arms crossed over his chest. “Simple: I’ve placed ads on various host magazines, with Nino’s face in it of course!”  
  
It is easy to tell that they all have the same reactions to Ohno’s revelation; each and every one of them has put down what they are holding and has stopped whatever they are doing at that exact same moment.  
  
“You did _what_?!” Nino is the first to react with words. “You used _my face_ in promoting your club without getting my permission?!”  
  
“Now, now,” Aiba interrupts, reaching across the table just to pat Nino’s hand. “Owner Oh-chan is definitely doing this for your own good. You see! At least the number of people went up!”  
  
“Yeah, Nino,” Jun seemed a little nonchalant earlier, but now he becomes interested (or rather, _concerned_ ) about the matter at hand. “Ohno-san doesn’t use advertising for Rainbow Paradise, but now it seems fitting that we have a new host. And you did well for your first week anyway, didn’t you?”  
  
Nino scoffs, as he comes to realize that this is one of the most important changes that happened during Nino’s first week: the usually-cool MatsuJun has already warmed up to him, giving him advice and even encouraging him when a customer feels badly about Nino’s service (“Idiot, you can do better than that. I know you can!”); the other three has always been supportive though, so maybe that does not count as change, but regardless, Nino already feels he’s at home. How many times do workplaces allow him to play video games whenever he wants to anyway? Not many, he bets.  
  
“But that’s rare, Ohno-kun,” Sho joins in the conversation. “Even when Johnny-san left you didn’t do anything like this.”  
  
“Well, Nino’s always been special,” Aiba smiles knowingly, and then ducks just in time before Nino could reach out to punch him. Ohno smiles as well. Shortly afterwards, Aiba, at the spur of the moment, jumps up off his chair. “Ah, right! Why don’t we have an initiation day _just_ for Nino?!”  
  
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jun calmly asks, although his tone is rigid and superior.  
  
“Um,” Aiba suddenly lacks confidence of his idea. “Initiation…? Since he’s new and all. We haven’t had a newcomer until now.”  
  
Nino merely laughs, Jun scoffs in utter frustration, and Sho translates Jun’s frustration into words (while Ohno just watches). “Of course we knew what you meant by ‘initiation’, Aiba-chan. What we don’t know is initiation in what sense? How are we going to initiate Nino?”  
  
“And why the hell do we need to?” Nino barges in, his face showing annoyance (although it should already be obvious from the tone of his voice alone).  
  
“Come on, guys, let’s do it! It’ll be fun!” Aiba turns to Ohno, his only hope. “Oh-chan?”  
  
“What are you planning to do, Aiba-chan?” Ohno inquires with _real_ interest, and it can only make Nino put his head on his palms.  
  
“Let’s hold a competition as an initiation for Nino!” Aiba’s smile widens and his eyes squint out of delight.  
  
Nino can see fondness for Aiba in the faces of his colleagues, and ironically, this Aiba-like attitude doesn’t bother him anymore. Nino thought for a while that Aiba was just a giant ball of sunshine and optimism, but because he and Aiba go through the same route everyday on the way home, eventually Nino has noticed that sunshine and optimism are not all what Aiba is. Just like Nino, he’s a normal person with normal dreams, but he is someone who does everything with all of his might. And Nino secretly admires Aiba for that.  
  
“A competition?” Sho’s voice brings Nino back to reality. “How are we going to compete? The host with the most number of customers wins?”  
  
“That’s not really fair, is it? MatsuJun will easily win that competition~!” Aiba laughs enthusiastically. Nino has never understood where his energy and excitement come from; he doesn’t even try anymore. “We ask the guests _after_ their visit which host they like the most!”  
  
“Like, how, a fair voting system?” Jun tries to confirm, and Aiba responds with one sound of approval. Nino cannot believe how easy it is to convince everyone when Aiba proposes the ideas. “Well, that seems fair alright.”  
  
“Right?!” Aiba turns to Sho again, who now appears to be afraid (or _cautious_ , Nino doesn’t know what the difference is anymore) of his excessive energy. “Sho-chan! You can win this! Girls from universities always follow you around anyway!”  
  
Sho chuckles in response, feeling ridiculed of the idea, “What does that have to do with anything?!”  
  
“He simply means your stalkers raise your chances of winning, Sho-chan,” Nino says calmly, unconsciously adapting Aiba’s term of endearment for the older man. (Sho protests with a very passionate “OI!” but Nino only ignores him, _as usual_.) Nino looks up to another older man in the room. “Oh-chan, what do think about this?”  
  
“Yeah, Ohno-kun, you _are_ the owner of his host club,” Jun raises an eyebrow at Ohno, who seems to just have started the process of taking all the information in.  
  
“Please, Oh-chan!” Aiba runs, almost clumsily, towards Ohno and puts his hands on his shoulders. “Pleasepleaseplease?!”  
  
Ohno grins. “Well, if the competition will help me gain more sales…”  
  
“OF COURSE IT WILL!” Aiba then tackles Ohno into a tight embrace, making the other three express amusement at the scene. “YESSS! OWNER YOU ARE THE BEST!”  
  
“Uh, Aiba-kun, you can let go of Owner now,” Nino advises, still snickering.  
  
Aiba does so, as Ohno lightly coughs for air. And then, another bright idea comes to him. “OH! Can Owner also join?! It’s been a while since you were a host!”  
  
“Are you kidding?” Jun pipes in. “He can’t even hold a decent conversation for two straight minutes! Look at him – he’s already been spacing out in this meeting for the most part.”  
  
“Uh what, me?” Ohno blinks, turning his attention to Jun, who rolls his eyes.  
  
“But it’s much more fun if he’s in it!” Aiba defends his suggestion. “It’s the only direction this competition can go!”  
  
Sho chuckles, as Nino quickly questions his own comprehension ability. Is Aiba making a valid argument (or at least a valid _support_ to his argument)? It becomes disheartening as time passes how Nino finds things about his new colleagues so confusing.  
  
“What, you mean with Ohno-san joining, the competition can only get better?” Sho says after getting a few quick breaths from laughing so much. Nino is amazed Sho can decipher the thoughts of the other three people in the room, much more those that come from Aiba.  
  
“Yes, that’s exactly it!” Aiba’s grin grows even wider (Nino cannot believe it was still possible for that to happen), now waiting for Ohno’s much-needed reaction.  
  
Ohno blinks. “Should… should I join then?”  
  
\---  
  
“Remind me.” Jun is standing at the entrance of Rainbow Paradise with arms across his chest and his right leg stretching forward, hip sticking out a bit. Nino is with him. “Who agreed with Aiba-kun, thinking it was _a good idea_ to put Ohno-kun’s framed picture under the ‘Newcomer’ section on the wall?”  
  
Another week passes, and the competition they all have been waiting for finally starts tonight. Or, at least, Nino _thinks_ everyone is excited about this. They should be, right? Whoever wins this gets an extra bonus from Ohno after all. And for Nino, ultimately, it’s all about the money (and the gratification that he’s the most-liked person among them, of course, no offense to the other four).  
  
Nino just scoffs at Jun’s remark, his smirk unconsciously showing. “I don’t even think we needed a ‘Newcomer’ section in the first place.”  
  
Ohno arrives, looking at the two younger men standing outside his host club. “What are you two doing?”  
  
“Why did you let Aiba tack up your picture on the wall?” Jun demands, remaining still in his position. “I mean, does it matter, when our customers _know_ that you’re the owner?”  
  
“Aiba-chan says it helps if the customers know that I’m one of the hosts,” Ohno explains a little too seriously. Nino cannot help but suppress the tendency to cackle by covering his mouth with a hand.  
  
“But really, do they have to put you under ‘Newcomer’ along with Nino?” Jun raises an eyebrow.  
  
“Well, it kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?” Ohno tries to justify. “It’s like I’m new to hosting again.”  
  
“There there, Owner,” Nino goes forth, putting an arm around Ohno’s shoulder and patting it with his hand. Nino has formed a habit of doing that ever since he discovered that Ohno never even _made an effort_ to move a muscle even if you touched him in the most inappropriate places. “Jun-kun’s just letting loose of his cool. I’m pretty sure there’s something _else_ that’s bothering him.”  
  
“Hmm?” Ohno turns to Nino as Jun clicks his tongue. “What is it?”  
  
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Jun asks, although Nino isn’t expecting this question. (Nino expected something like, “Why don’t we just cancel it? I know I’m going to win anyway.” And that’s when Nino knows that Jun sees him as a worthy rival, which is good for healthy competition at work.) “What if the number of guests who came wouldn’t be as many as we wanted to?”  
  
Ohno shrugs, “We can always continue the competition until we get enough customers. And we’re aiming for what, 50 guests?”  
  
Nino nods silently as a support to Ohno. Nino sincerely thinks Owner is right, even if the way he nodded is somewhat comical. As weeks pass, this is how Nino sees it now: In a way, Ohno is really not that much of a blur – _sometimes_ – which is why Ohno is still the decision-maker of the group. Well, that’s how Nino has come to understand it, at least. That, and the fact that the four of them just trust him with everything they’ve got. It’s not that hard to do with such a gentle person anyway.  
  
Jun tilts his head. “Even though sometimes I wonder why you’re an owner of a host club, _of all things_ , I can’t question your ability to convince us to do our best, Ohno-san.”  
  
“He tries, Jun-kun,” Nino tugs Ohno (who suddenly turns oblivious) closer to him with a swooshing sound. “This club wouldn’t be running without Owner, you know.”  
  
Jun smirks. “That’s about right, isn’t it?”  
  
Ohno realizes he’s still the topic of discussion. “Eh?”  
  
\---  
  
Four hours have passed since the competition started, and Nino is now _very_ confused, in the brink of completely losing his mind with all the things that are going on around him. Basically, he never knew his colleagues would be so fired up with a friendly, harmless competition among them, not that he does not feel just as motivated. And in order to come up with a strategy to win, Nino silently observes his colleagues while still managing to lure his lady guests with all the charm and pheromones he’s got.  
  
Sho is trying _really_ hard to satisfy his customers. He really, truly does. But the thing is, he tries too hard that either his customers leave his table for the other four, or they just wait for him to finish stories about how the economy works in modern Japan since China became an open market to foreigners (or more simply, an unusually large Buddha statue he encountered whilst traveling outside Tokyo) before they change the subject into a more interesting one.  
  
But then, Sho is a fighter. He never gives up. So what he does to prevent from boring his customers to death is try to impress them with his magic when they are about to drift to slumber land.  
  
…Nino actually knows how to do magic all too well, but of course, he’s not that much of a bad guy to ruin Sho’s efforts just like that, right?  
  
“Sho-chan!” Nino shouts from where he’s casually sitting with his legs crossed, about ten meters away from Sho. “Show them your cards! They weren’t printed in a _certain_ way, were they?”  
  
But Nino is also competitive. Sho will probably understand that for Nino, whatever he is doing against Sho now is nothing personal.  
  
Sho stops immediately right after Nino’s sudden declaration, because for sure, his playing cards were printed in _that_ way, which is exactly how he is able to flip only one card but show different number of hearts in it, like three, then seven, then one. Sho quickly then puts the cards in his pocket and resorts back to serving his current lady customer tonic drinks.  
  
Nino smirks, as he goes on talking normally to his own customer. _One down_.  
  
Jun is also a fairly easy target, as how Nino sees it. The thing with Jun is that he _hates_ disorder. Whatever form or situation, he does not like it when things do not go as orderly as planned. Like how he tells Aiba to stop jumping around or Sho to hold his cups carefully so that he doesn’t drop them on a customer’s lap, for example. Or basically, like how he orders drinks and put them in a certain order. And of course, the only way to destroy the organized is…  
  
Nino stands up from his table, asking permission from his current guest that he needs to get something from the kitchen, and there is no way but to pass by Jun’s table. Jun is, as usual, charming the hell out of his – _currently_ – three customers. All at once. Nino rolls his eyes at the ridiculousness of it all before calling Jun’s attention. “Jun-kun, do you need some more drinks for your customers? I’m going to the kitchen.”  
  
Jun turns to Nino, having his one arm over a woman who looks like someone in her late twenties and the other arm over another who _definitely_ does not look like someone their age. (Possibly well into her forties, Nino deems further. Jun always gets the older ones, if Aiba does not attract them first by way of maternal instincts.) “Ah, is it okay with you, Nino?”  
  
“Sure,” Nino shrugs as he holds two empty glasses with his hands. “It’s not like I have many glasses to hold or anything.” Jun raises his eyebrow. “I’m kidding, Jun-kun~” Nino then singsongs, smirking and winking at Jun’s customers. “Come on now, you’ll scare your pretty ladies.”  
  
Jun gives him a death glare. Nino mockingly cowers before retreating to the kitchen. He has obviously learned how to deal with Jun without getting beheaded. (And in reality, Jun is not really _that_ much of a sadist. He just happens to like hitting people while wearing huge rings and a heavy watch.)  
  
After a few minutes he comes back with a tray containing a few cupful of drinks – his and Jun’s – as he passes by Jun’s table again. “Here you go, _Jun-pon_ ,” he says with the same smirk, and this time Jun does not react, except with a little twitch of his right eye for about a millisecond.  
  
“Thanks,” Jun mutters afterwards, trying to hide the slight annoyance traceable in his voice. And just as then… Nino purposefully spills the drinks all over Jun’s table.  
  
“Shit, I’m so sorry!” Nino blurts out, although of course it has been premeditated on his part.  
  
“Holy sh—!!” Jun swiftly stands up to avoid the mess as his guests instinctively squeal and move away from the table. “Ninomiya!!”  
  
“I swear it’s an accident!” Nino tries to feign innocence, but he knows that Jun will not believe him. Not that it matters, Nino has already done his second mission.  
  
“I’ll give you an accident!” Jun bellows, trying to reach Nino to hit him before Nino yelps, “Jun-kun! I thought you weren’t _supposed_ to create commotion!”  
  
Jun stops, realizing that Nino is right; before this started, he promised Ohno that in case there would be fights or mayhem – whether petty or violent (Ohno doubts “violent” will happen though, given the good nature of his hosts) – Jun would be the first one to prevent it. This is partly because Ohno thinks he is not capable to do it himself, and partly because God knows, chaos is _still_ chaos: whether it’s Sho embarrassing himself, Aiba accidentally putting lozenges to people’s drinks or Nino embarrassing other people (or Sho). And unfortunately, Jun is the only one with a sane mind to put up with all of the craziness. Jun sits back down, only to find that his three customers have already left. Jun sighs, giving Nino another glare of the evil forces, but Nino only winks to the younger man before doing a mock-salute.  
  
“Mr. Chaos Control, indeed.” Nino goes back to his own table. (Also, Nino calls Jun the Ultimate Drama Queen sometimes, for obvious reasons, but Jun doesn’t really know about that so it’s okay.) _Two down._  
  
Aiba, as Nino comes to accept, is a really, _really_ special human being. Even without the person himself knowing, Aiba effortlessly emits a certain glow of happiness that seems to radiate magnificently – so much that perhaps even _blind_ people can see his overly positive aura. That seems to work for Aiba, because a lot of the women have requested him tonight.  
  
“What, is today ‘World Depression Day’?” Nino remarks with annoyance, because he knows Aiba has a natural advantage that resides in his personality, and no matter how hard he tries, Nino will just be another party-pooper beside a very optimistic, fun and energetic young man.  
  
“Why, Nino-chan?” His eighth customer for tonight asks him, clearly clueless.  
  
Nino shakes his head, still staring at Aiba, who is now singing TOKIO’s _Hana Uta_ on the nearby karaoke machine. “It’s nothing; it’s just that everybody wants to be with Mr. Sunshine over there.”  
  
“Aiba-chan?” the customer looks at where Nino is pointing. “Well, he’s kind of like an all-around entertainer.”  
  
Nino does not intend it, but he cackles at the mention of _all-around entertainer_. Then another sarcastic quip comes up. “What is he, a variety show?”  
  
Nino realizes that this is the second time he’s associating Aiba with doing a variety show. The implication? Maybe he should suggest that to Aiba for a part-time job or something. The boy will do well, Nino is certain; after all, if keeping up the energy even at random times was the most important requirement for being in a variety show, Aiba would surely be hired in an instant. But not to dwell on that thought except for later, Nino still cannot manage to think of a way to get ahead of Aiba. (Positivity is the strongest force in the world, Nino concludes, and there is _no way_ he will beat Aiba in that department.) With a click of a tongue, Nino gives up on sabotaging Aiba for the meantime, moving on to his last target – and his favorite – Ohno Satoshi.  
  
But this, _this_ surprises Nino most of all.  
  
Like the others, Nino does not really get the logic of having someone like Ohno to be the owner of Rainbow Paradise. Not that Ohno is incompetent – he can lead and decide and manage if he wants to – it’s just that he has interest in other things _besides_ being a host: fishing, for one. (And he draws too.) Like the mystery as to why he accepted being the owner of a host club, _of all things_ , the mystery of how he gets customers one after the other puzzles Nino just as much.  
  
Not actually having any plan in mind (he is distracted as of the moment), Nino excuses himself again from his customer and decides to sit beside Owner, who is busy _listening_ to his present customer – a woman old enough to be his mother – and puts an arm around him, inching too close for comfort. “Ohno-san,” Nino begins, interrupting said woman.  
  
“Mm?” Ohno does not mind, just as Nino expects. “What is it, Nino?”  
  
Nino leans in closer to Ohno’s ear and whispers, “You _do_ realize that’s someone whose age is almost twice as yours…?”  
  
Ohno simply nods. “Yeah, and?”  
  
Nino shakes his head, “ _Tch_. Older women only want one thing, Owner-san. _One thing_.”  
  
“Eh?” Ohno looks surprised and confused at the same time. “What?”  
  
“This is _exactly_ why you trigger maternal instincts, you and Aiba-kun.” Nino takes his hand off the older man and puts his face in it. “Older women _obviously_ don’t need money—”  
  
“Excuse me,” Ohno’s customer barges in the conversation with a tone of authority (Nino wants to tell Ohno that’s one of the problems when you have your mom as a customer). “ _You_ ,” she points firmly at Nino, “are wasting my time. I paid an hour for this!”  
  
“Sorry Nino,” Ohno does look apologetic.  
  
Nino sighs in resignation. There is only one more thing left to know. “How many customers have you had, Oh-chan?”  
  
Ohno smirks as his eyes squint. “You’ll know when we count the ballots.”  
  
“ _Tch_.” Nino rolls his eyes and stands up. He is about to return to his table when he hears someone exclaim, from Aiba’s table, “OH MY GOD! _THIS_ —!!”  
  
He quickly scans his surroundings, finding a very amazed customer sitting at Aiba’s table, a very amused Aiba (not the innocent kind) and a very perplexed Sho.  
  
“This is amazing!!” Aiba’s customer exclaims further, looking at and holding a sketchpad then talking to Sho. “Sho-san, how did you learn to draw like this?!”  
  
Sho looks surprised that he actually _impressed_ someone, but this time it’s through his... rather _unique_ skills. Nino is surprised as well, for the same reason – he has seen Sho draw, and it is not exactly something Nino calls as _amazing_ so much as _different_. Actually, Nino suggests to everyone that they should see Sho’s version of the _Mona Lisa_ ; Sho will even draw the frames for easy recognition.  
  
“Right?!” Aiba is struggling to burst into laughter and, at the same time, smiling like there’s no tomorrow. “It’s a natural talent, you know! And look, he’s always confident to show how good he is!!”  
  
Nino’s too curious; he wants to see what the clamor is all about. Upon approaching Aiba, Nino waves at him (trying to be as casual about it as possible), who sees him and waves back. “Nino!! Have you seen Sho-chan’s _Totoro_?! It’s so awesome! Show him, Sho-chan! Hurry!”  
  
“I know I can draw, but your voice clattering all over is embarrassing me,” Sho whines, but shows the drawing to Nino anyway. “Here, Nino… h-how is it?”  
  
Nino’s eyes widen. He still has the same opinion of Sho’s artistic skills, so he’s shocked to know that someone is actually _amazed_ by it. (On the other hand, Nino could explain how it would be amazing, but he would also sound sarcastic, so he doesn’t.) “This is a hairy snowman, Sho-chan.”  
  
“That’s my image of _Totoro_ ,” Sho sounds oblivious, and Nino does not know anymore whether Sho is not aware how _good_ he is or if he is only running on confidence alone. Nino blinks at Sho, who just stares back.  
  
“It’s his _interpretation_ , Nino-chan, what are you talking about?!” Aiba barges in the conversation, putting an arm around Nino. “Even if it looks like a kid drew it, who are we to question how he views the world? Right, Sho-chan?”  
  
Sho nods unrhythmically, indicating that he’s not probably as confident as he seems (or so Nino would like to think).  
  
“Sho-san?” the customer that used to be Aiba’s is now sitting over at Sho’s area. Nino just cannot believe his eyes. “Can you please do another one? I’ll pay extra for the time, if that’s okay with you.”  
  
“Ah, yes,” Sho obliges as he sits down, beginning to draw something on the sketchpad again. That’s also when some customers from the other tables start to turn their attention, possibly permanently, to this dashing and intelligent man. Nino now realizes that irony is not his friend.  
  
“Aiba-chan,” the same woman calls, “Would you get us some Dom Pérignon, please?”  
  
“ _Eh?!_ Me?!” Aiba, as Nino observes it, does not really understand the consequence of his actions.  
  
“ _Idiot_ ,” Nino mutters as a response, putting his head on his palms for the nth time that night. “You’re not supposed to make your customers switch hosts!” And well, Nino has been doing that all night, but he’s making them switch to _him_ , not the other way around. “Or make _my_ customers switch hosts!”  
  
“This is bad,” Aiba comments and Nino just cannot help but smack him in the head.  
  
“It _is_ bad,” Nino echoes, but heck, there is nothing he can do.  
  
\---  
  
By the end of the competition at three in the morning, as Ohno anticipated, Rainbow Paradise has received a little more than 50 guests (maybe about fourteen more), and apparently the owner is pleased about the turnover of the customers this time; he is also pleased that he, _by himself_ , got so many customers in one night. Now, all five of them are back in Ohno’s office, currently having a meeting and counting the ballots.  
  
Nino, who had been self-assured before the competition started, is now feeling a little tired. He has accepted defeat already by this time (“It’s troublesome to persuade them to go your own way,” Jun says as he pats Nino at the back; he is most probably speaking from experience) and of course, he just wants to go home and sleep it off. If Ohno decides to give them incentives either way, then Nino may want to listen to this _thing_ , whatever this is. For now, he can only imagine the scenario when he goes home – and hopefully, that does not include his mother waiting for him by the front door and questioning him about the competition with his “favorite set of people”.  
  
So he simply observes. Out of the fifty ballots that have been counted, most votes have been in favor of, _very surprisingly_ , Sho and Ohno. Admittedly for Nino, considering how it all went down last night, there should not have been any surprise to it at all. Perhaps, a miracle that Nino was not aware of has suddenly occurred, and well, he may have to ask Aiba about it. Aiba seems (and claims) to be an expert on miracles of some sort.  
  
Jun sighs, “So there goes my theory on why Ohno-san is the owner of Rainbow Paradise. But I still can’t understand why Sho-kun is also getting all the votes; shouldn’t he be the number one host then, and not me?”  
  
Aiba, who is sitting beside Jun, looks quite guilty from Nino’s point-of-view.  
  
Nino just smirks, giving side-glances at Aiba, “Someone discovered Sho-chan’s excellent artistic skills, and apparently, it boosted his popularity among our guests.”  
  
Jun raises an eyebrow. “You mean _Sho-kun_ ’s drawings?”  
  
Nino shrugs without saying anything, still smiling. Some things are better left unsaid, Nino thinks.  
  
“Hey, my drawings are good,” Sho manages to barge in, although rather a little late. “I’m sure these customers didn’t vote for me _solely_ because of that.”  
  
“Trust me, Sho-kun, if you had shown your skills in art in this club a long time ago, you might have been number one, not Jun-kun,” Nino comments without conveying any emotion this time, of course with the intention of teasing him. Sho lovingly hits Nino on the head as a response.  
  
“Done!” Ohno squeaks, and it turns out he has already finished counting the votes.  
  
“You went on without letting us finish talking here?” Nino remarks in a way he always does.  
  
“I thought you all wanted to go home,” Ohno says.  
  
Nino scoffs, “Fine, I _did_ say that. So anyway, who’s the winner, Oh-chan?”  
  
Ohno purses his lips, making a long pause before, “I did.”  
  
“WHAT?!” All four of them reacted.  
  
“I’m leading by three votes against Sho-kun, and about eight against the three of you.”  
  
“Huh,” Nino can only manage to say.  
  
“That’s our Owner!” Aiba finally speaks, jumping out of his seat and giving Ohno two thumbs up.  
  
“Owner is still the best, apparently,” Sho adds, having that humble, caring smile on his face.  
  
“Never expect anything less,” Jun smiles as well, although by now fatigue has taken over him. Nino suspects Jun has had a hard night too.  
  
Then Nino stands up, puts an arm around his boss and says, “If it’s Owner then it’s a win-win situation for all of us. We can still strive to do our best as hosts.”  
  
Even in his mind, Nino does not really mind that Ohno has won. In fact, he would not mind if everyone else had won and not him, because as Ohno told him once, the host club works because of five of them are working together. And seriously, if anyone asks, Nino will proclaim, without any hesitation, that he has the best colleagues in the world. Surely, sometimes they’re just stupid and silly (and playfully spiteful _sometimes_ , including himself), but really, they are nice people. (Nino has this as his new mantra.) Now it’s just time to go home and sleep the day away. It’s been wild and crazy enough for one night.  
  
Ohno beams at the warm response of his hosts about his victory. Then he says, a little bit too seriously, “I get the bonus, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> Sho will never live down his Totoro ~*masterpiece*~. Or Mona Lisa.


End file.
